Online Marketing Blog

I noticed someone using Google suggest in another story today (honestly forgot where) and thought I’d see what Google “thinks” about social media. Then I tried SEO. Not surprising. Funniest of all, considering Google’s business model, was advertising.

Pretty telling when you think about it. Of course this isn’t what Google “really thinks” about social media, it’s Google’s response to search queries and effort to predict what we’re really searching for.

Google Suggest works by drawing from searches by other Google users, sites in Google’s search index, and ads in the Google advertising network. If you’re logged in, Google will use your search history to make suggestions. It can be a handy search tool. It can also be revealing.

Today at the PRSA 09 conference, it was a packed room for TopRank CEO (and author of Online Marketing Blog) Lee Odden who gave a presentation on SEO for Public Relations.

He started by explaining why SEO is/should be important to PR Professionals.

In a 2008 Journalists Use of Search Survey by TopRank, we discovered that 91% of journalists use standard search to fulfill a component of their job whether researching a story or locating a subject matter expert.

With journalists writing for more channels and with less resources making your content visible within search is critical.

Here are Odden’s 10 SEO Tips:

The TopRank team loves to have fun – for holidays, on team outings, at conferences, etc. Because tomorrow is Halloween, a few members of the TopRank team decided to dress up for a costume contest. And it’s up to you to decide the winner! Winning includes at least $50 worth of coffee, so be sure to share this post and get your friends to vote too.

We have a winner – Congrats goes to Dana Larson:

Winner! Dana as Minnesota Strawberry Shortcake

Safari Thomas

Bad Angel Julie

Michelle the Football Star

Monkey Audrey and Veterinary Nurse Amie

Mike as Zombie Soupy Sales

Sue After Being Attacked by Scooby Doo

The search engine industry frequently innovates as do consumer behaviors for discovery and sharing. Those changes require search marketers to take a fresh look at what search engine optimization (SEO) is and why companies should or should not engage in its practice.

Defining search engine optimization is often focused on the mechanics:
“SEO considers how search engines work and what people search for. Optimizing a website primarily involves editing its content and HTML and associated coding to both increase its relevance to specific keywords and to remove barriers to the indexing activities of search engines.” (Wikipedia).

Even Google offers a definition of what an SEO is along with guidelines:
“Many SEOs and other agencies and consultants provide useful services for website owners, including: Review of your site content or structure, Technical advice on website, development: for example, hosting, redirects, error pages, use of JavaScript, Content development, Management of online business development campaigns, Keyword research, SEO training, Expertise in specific markets and geographies.”

I’ve been in the business of SEO for about 12 years and have worked with hundreds of companies of all sizes. I cannot be anything but biased towards the benefits of optimizing web sites to improve visibility in search and the commercial outcomes that can result.

For some, Search Engine Optimization is a favorite whipping boy.  Of course, marketers that have experience with proper SEO efforts and consultants, dismiss the sweeping generalizations often made by those looking to “stir the pot” to draw attention to themselves or who are pontificating based on an incomplete set of information.

All industries have a range of practitioners with varied levels of experience. Ease of online publishing allows anyone with a computer to promote themselves, with or without “real” skills.

2008 MIMA Summit at The Depot

UPDATE: We have a winner! Liz Giel was selected by a mysterious voting process contrived within the ranks of the TopRank staff and involving various secretive and hurried Account Managers. Suffice it to say, we appreciate all who ReTweeted, linked and commented.  Don’t worry, there will be liveblogging of the event here on Online Marketing Blog and live streaming of several sessions at MIMASummit.org. Congratulations Liz!

In just under a week the annual Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association Summit will be held downtown Minneapolis at the Hilton. With keynotes from Seth Godin and Jackie Huba as well as a collection of local and national subject matter experts ranging from Greg Swan of Weber Shandwick to Scott Monty of Ford, it should be a veritable vortex of interactive velocity.  I apologize, that alliteration was so bad.

[Note from Lee:  The PR industry is in a state of flux with changes in the print industry, citizen journalism and the social web. Consumer behaviors with information discovery, consumption and sharing have been significantly affected by the dramatic increase in social platform usage and ease of self publishing.

Companies that rely on reaching and engaging those consumers through PR and marketing vendors and/or internal professionals need to carefully consider what skills and capabilities are needed to succeed. I've asked Adam Singer at TopRank to present his view on the matter and he's come up with the following post.]

Jason Falls recently made a smart comment about the need for Public Relations professions to be “social media ready”.  In that post, he referenced a 2009 “Digital Readiness Report” to assess the specific social media marketing skills companies are looking for in a PR vendor.

Are you engaged in a Search Engine Optimization program and wondering how to get more out of it?

Look no further, I’m going to share with you 5 Pitfalls to Avoid as part of an SEO program.

Having worked with many, many clients I’ve seen just about everything.

However, there are 5 pitfalls that consistently pop up and limit the return of the program for the client or at the very least create more hurdles than were necessary.

So, here are 5 SEO Pitfalls to Avoid:

1. Designing Sites in a Vacuum
Many a client will search far and wide for the perfect web design vendor without as much as consulting their existing SEO partner. This is a mistake because, while I love web designers, they are not all trained in the world of SEO.

I know you’re thinking, “What does a castle have to do with measuring value from search engine optimization?”. Nothing really, but I’m in England for the next week or two and didn’t need much of an excuse to post a photo of Hever Castle, which I visited recently. Actually, I do have a metaphor, so read on.

Search engine optimization is most often known as a pull direct marketing channel or inbound marketing as many are calling it. Customers are actively looking for solutions, products and services using various forms of search and that spells opportunity for marketers to do what they can to be front and center.

Typically it’s the marketing department that funds the SEO effort whether it’s handled in-house, outsourced to an internet marketing agency or as is increasingly more common, a mixture of both.

“Easy reading is damn hard writing,” opened chancellor Roy Williams at last week’s Wizard of Ads training seminar, ’12 Languages of The Mind.’

Never is this quote from Nigel Hawthorne (not Nathaniel Hawthorne, as it’s commonly credited to, per Williams) more apt than when you are a writer of any trade struggling to find that opening hook.

(To serve a personal example, the percentage of time I spent drafting this opening paragraph will exceed the percentage of time spent on any one remaining section of this entire post.)

SEO copywriting serves perhaps the greatest challenge when finding that hook, as we copywriters are encouraged to begin our posts with keywords as far up and to the left as possible in our titles.  (This post may be a bad example, as a blog that begins with ‘SEO Copywriting’ carries the promise of inherent fascination within.)

The transition from old to new technology creates both challenges and opportunities for communications professions.  The field of public relations is directly tied to the publishing industry which of course, is directly connected to business and consumer information discovery and consumption.  The migration from offline to online has left these industries in a state of flux and traditional PR becoming increasingly digital is no exception.

There are tactical challenges as well as strategic. For example, the shift towards digital communications means a new set of tools must be learned in order to accomplish today’s PR goals.  Now more than ever, public relations professionals need to familiarize themselves with a new arsenal of tools to adjust and thrive in a digital world.

It was standing room only for the SES San Jose session regarding Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues.

Shari Thurow of Omni Marketing started the session off by addressing why duplicate content is a concern.

When there are duplicate content issues it lowers the number of pages available to rank. Less pages to rank can equal less rankings which can lead to lower search traffic.

In addition, Shari mentioned something called ‘Crawler Cap’ which is the maximum number of pages a search engine will crawl of a particular website.

So, if your site delivers duplicate content:

• it lowers index count
• the best converting pages might not appear in search results
• web pages from your shared-content partner sites (affiliates, syndicates) may have better search visibility